Middle-School Tennis, Gymnastics Find New Home Within Parks and Rec

The Sumner School District no longer has room for middle-school gymnastics and tennis programs in its budget, but that doesn't mean that the days of athleticism are over for participants.

The Sumner-Bonney Lake Recreation Department plans to offer programs to replace those previously run by the district.

Shifting management to the parks department, a branch of the school district, means that participation in the two sports will involve a fee.

The fee for gymnastics will be $125, and while the cost to play tennis has not yet been set, Parks and Recreation Director Rebecca Giles said she predicts it will be less than the gymnastics fee. That is because less equipment is involved to play tennis than to do gymnastics.

The fees collected are used to maintain equipment and pay stipends to the coaches, Giles said.

“We don’t make any money off of this program,” she said.

In the past, middle-school tennis and gymnastics were extracurricular activities funded through SSD’s general-fund budget. The shift reduces the district's general fund expenditures by $21,000, the annual cost for the programs, including coaching and transportation, said District Communication Manager Ann Cook.

Transportation will no longer be provided to students participating in the two sports, Cook said.

The programs, which start in February, will be available to students in sixth through eighth grade. They were previously not offered to sixth-graders.

“This program gives them an opportunity to learn a little bit earlier,” Giles said.

It’s possible that programs will be available at all three of SSD's middle schools, but that will depend on how many students sign up. That wasn’t the case before with gymnastics, which was only was offered at Mountain View Middle School.

Some requirements for the program will remain the same. Students must get a doctor’s approval and maintain at least a C-average to participate, Giles said.

Cook said the decision to eliminate middle-school gymnastics and tennis was based upon a recommendation from the district's budget advisory committee.

“It follows the same model the school district developed for elementary after-school sports,” she said. “Last year, all after-school sports were eliminated from the district budget and program management was transferred to the rec department.”

Giles said the after-school soccer, basketball, volleyball and track programs are offered to fourth- and fifth-grade students. Despite the participation fee in a rough economy, the programs are popular.

“I worried we would not get the numbers,” she said, “and we did get them.”

Cook said that over the past three years, the district has made more than $10 million in cuts to the general-fund budget.

“We have worked hard to preserve funding for teaching and learning," she said, "making strategic cuts and reductions in operations and support services."

She noted that the budget process included giving priority to programs and services deemed essential. Non-essential but desirable programs, such as middle-school gymnastics and tennis, were analyzed to determine whether there were other options to keep them going.

“With the success of the elementary after-school sports model moving to the rec department, we were confident about moving the middle school programs," Cook said.

To learn more about the new programs, call the Sumner-Bonney Lake Parks and Recreation Department at 253-891-6500. Information also is available in the department’s online winter recreation guide.